Letters to the Editor: edTPA? 'It isn't fair.'

edTPA? 'It isn't fair'

I have been teaching for two years under my internship certification and am due to graduate in June with my master's.

Unfortunately, I now must go by the new testing format because of my June 2014 graduation date, and I will not have my initial license by then.

It is very upsetting to me, since I have been evaluated under the new teacher effectiveness system as a highly effective teacher and now I have to start over when I would be starting my tenure year next year. It isn't fair. I may not have a job in September because of this.

The prices of these tests are ridiculous as well — $300 to take this edTPA and for what? No one at my master's program knows what the heck is going on, or even how this works, because no one has had time to learn it. So now I risk the chance of failing. It's very upsetting to me.

Erin Sullivan
UFT, Staten Island

Common Core evaluated

Common Core implementation lacks common sense. Medical science, engineering and every type of technology do not implement a medicine, a mechanical device or new program without first testing the product extensively in the field.

The pressure on students is very stressful. To hold teachers accountable for their students' academic achievements on Common Core exams is insane! Children are not machines and school is not a factory.

Who hired Core Knowledge Foundation, Expeditionary Learning and Common Core Inc. and what are their qualifications to produce an educational module or a curriculum? Who owns these three corporations and who controls their planning, research and development staffs?

It is as if these corporations were chosen to develop a system that could not possibly work effectively, in order to discredit public schools, teachers and school boards.

Francis A. Gentile
Dobbs Ferry

Why pick on retirees?

I was shocked to see that in the executive budget proposal, Gov. Cuomo plans to eliminate the annual Medicare Part B deductible reimbursements for retirees. Why is he picking on New York state retirees?

Most of us depend on that annual payment to help with our medical expenses. It is NOT a handout.

As usual, politicians are going after the “little guy” who lives from paycheck to paycheck, while not asking those in the top 1 percent for a dime more. This is unfair and if true, all retirees will remember this come Cuomo's re-election.

Myron Shulman
Brooklyn

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